US military now authorized to conduct offensive airstrikes in Somalia | ABC News

The Trump administration has given the U.S. military the authorization to conduct offensive counterterrorism airstrikes in Somalia targeting al Shabaab, the al Qaeda affiliated terror group.

Until now the U.S. military had only been able to employ airstrikes against al Shabaab militants in self-defense situations when African Union or Somali government troops accompanied by U.S. advisers came under attack.

“The President has approved a Department of Defense proposal to provide additional precision fires in support of African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and Somali security forces operations …